The invention concerns a device for cleaning large-area textile coverings, especially carpets and carpeted floors, that has a adaptor communicating with a basic component through at least one hose connection and consisting of a rinse chamber that can be placed against the textile covering and slid over it, is open at the bottom, and has walls that are double all the way around at least in the section adjacent to the bottom, whereby the continuous space between the outer and inner wall communicates with the basic component through a water-removal connection, creating an essentially annular water-removal component that is open at the bottom, and whereby the rinse chamber rests, when placed against the textile covering, on at least its bottom edge, which is provided with sealing surfaces, and the inner space communicates with a fresh-water line through a water-supply connection.
A device of this kind is known in principle from GB Pat. No. 1 282 552. The rinse chamber in the known cleaning device is a telescoping housing. Once it has been placed on the surface to be cleaned, the rinse chamber is completely filled with water through a water inlet. The water is removed below the bottom edges of the bottom of the housing into an annular water-removal component surrounding the housing and communicating with the water-removal connection. The water is supposed to be supplied to the housing in a constant stream and removed from it in a constant stream. A suction pump can be attached to the water-removal component to remove the water. A constant closed flow of water is consequently supplied through the water inlet and removed through the water outlet. One drawback to the known device, in which an ultrasonic generator is immersed in the surface of the water inside the rinse chamber to promote the cleaning action, is that it is inappropriate for cleaning textile coverings. When a device of this type is placed on a carpet or carpeted floor, it is impossible to adequately seal off the circulating water from the exterior. The water arrives below the bottom edges of the outer walls and spreads over the carpet. Furthermore, constantly supplying the water only at the top of the rinse chamber and removing it at the bottom results in insufficient rinsing and cleaning.
German Pat. No. 2 743 530 specifies a device for cleaning large-area textile coverings with at least one spray nozzle attached to the fresh-water supply line and aimed at the textile covering, with at least one suction mouthpiece attached to vacuum spaces, with several suction fans driven by electric motors, with each fan connected to a separate vacuum space through its own suction connection, and with a dirty-water line that extends from the mutually connected vacuum spaces and through which the dirty water can be removed by means of a pump.
Carpets can be cleaned with this known device by, for example, spraying the fresh water, which can be heated and provided with a cleaning agent, onto the carpet subject to high pressure and suctioning it off again subsequent to a relatively brief action time. It is suctioned off through the suction mouthpieces, which communicate with the vacuum spaces.